Pythons make unwelcome guests at West Milford home

WEST MILFORD — High school teacher James Geist has a new calling: reptile farming.

In the span of four days late last month, the Upper Greenwood Lake resident spotted a 16-foot albino python and a 10-foot python in his back yard.

On July 23, Geist was reading on his backyard deck when he saw what appeared to be a branch that had fallen from a tree. Upon closer examination with a pair of binoculars, he realized the branch was moving. He grabbed his phone and called the police.

“Dispatch told me to stay away, and I’m not a fan of snakes so I wasn’t going to go near the thing,” said Geist, 46.

Police officers arrived with two snake handlers, who identified the massive snake as a female albino python, valued at about $8,000. The snake, which hadn’t moved but 10 feet in all of a half hour, was probably calm because it had recently eaten, one of the snake handlers told Geist.

“It was huge, it was thick, it was docile,” said Geist, who teaches social studies in New York City. “The one [snake handler] said this was pretty docile, so this was someone’s pet.”

Days later, on Friday morning, Geist saw another 10-foot python from the kitchen window of his home on Bayonne Drive. He again called the police, who responded this time with an animal control officer. They used Geist’s clothesline pole and a pillowcase to transfer the python, which snapped at them a few times, to a recycling bin before the same snake handler arrived to assist them. The snake handler told Geist that the smaller snake is worth “a couple of thousand dollars.”

The animal control officer speculated that the tropical snakes came from the property of someone who had recently moved away and released them into the wild. Geist said he is not sure what happened to the snakes after they were removed from his property.

Geist happens to have a fear of snakes. “I would rather face a black bear than a python,” he said.

Since the incidents, he said he has been cautious, refusing to walk outside barefoot or without a flashlight in the dark. But in jest, he posted a sign in his front yard that says “Geist’s Reptile Farm.” He also drafted a press release that he sent to area media outlets.

“I’ll be pretty happy when the winter comes because it will kill any more pythons that are out there,” Geist said. “I just hope there’s no cobras.”